In the 12 million square feet of show space at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., which closes today, a little bit of Natchez is on display. Since 1989, when the Historic Natchez Collection made its debut at the same event, furniture and other items for home decorating in the collection have illustrated some of what makes Natchez unique, said Ronald Miller, executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

Miller has attended each show &8212; fall and spring &8212; for the past 16 years. &8220;You can&8217;t miss one,&8221; Miller said. &8220;You have to be there to remain a player. You make yourself visible, push for new products and new licensees. You sell your brand and let everybody know how well the program is going.&8221;

The program is going well, but changes in the home furnishings market during the past few years have made a difference in the income the Historic Natchez Foundation receives from royalties on items sold under the Natchez name.

&8220;The licensing program has its ups and downs,&8221; Miller said. The program involves about a dozen companies who manufacture products with the Natchez label, but the most important by far is Henredon Furniture, he said. Money from the Henredon sales make up more than half the income the Foundation receives from licensees.

&8220;Our revenue from Henredon over the last three years is down 50 percent,&8221; he said. The Foundation budget strains under that shortfall, as &8220;the licensing program provides about three-fourths of the Historic Natchez Foundation money, allowing us to continue our charitable work.&8221;

The Natchez program faces strong competition in the licensing arena, as much larger entities such as Winterthur, Charleston, Biltmore, Williamsburg, Historic New England and others also are at market seeking new partnerships and new products.

&8220;We&8217;ll all be dropping off our materials, fluffing everything up, pushing for new products and scouting out prospective licensees,&8221; Miller said. The difference is that he now works as a team of one.

&8220;All our competitors have museum staff and curators who can describe the objects, photographers who can take the photographs for needed details, a PR person who can prepare press releases and videos and the Web site.

And they have their own collections,&8221; Miller said. &8220;We have to make appointments to go into the homes of Natchez when licensees come. It&8217;s a big production. But I must say the home owners have always been so kind and so gracious.&8221;

Natchez was a natural to sell to manufacturers when the program began, Miller said.

That has not changed. He recalled the reaction some of the home furnishings company executives have had in the early days and forward to today.

&8220;What has captivated Henredon is the blend of sophistication and earthiness in Natchez,&8221; he said. &8220;They might attend a cultured dinner party followed by a good time at a local bar. They liked the sophistication of the people they met that was mixed with a down-home sense of humor.&8221;

In Natchez, the houses Henredon executives visited would be museums if located in some other place, Miller said. &8220;But the homeowners live as casually with their antiques as anyone would live in their homes. Natchez sort of knocks the edge off the &8216;don&8217;t touch&8217; idea. In Natchez, you do touch because, after all, the antiques were not always antiques.&8221;

Coping with diminished income

As income has decreased from the Historic Natchez Collection program, the Foundation has tightened its belt, Miller said. &8220;We&8217;ve cut our expenses by going to only two fulltime people, and we&8217;re very miserly with our lights, heating and cooling.&8221; In addition to Miller, his wife, Mimi Miller, is fulltime director of preservation and education.

Even with greatly reduced royalty money coming in each month, the Foundation is on solid ground. &8220;We have socked away money into our endowment fund, and that money can produce from $40,000 to $50,000 a year in revenue that is available to us,&8221; Ron Miller said. &8220;But we can never spend the money in the endowment fund, just its income.&8221;

Thus the licensing program has ensured the future of the Foundation, where advice, guidance and education on historic preservation have helped to preserve and enhance the historic character of Natchez since the organization began its work in 1974.

The licensing program has been a tool both for raising money and for spreading the word about Natchez, as licensees have advertised their Natchez collections in numerous magazines and stories in major newspapers have touted the collection, as well.

Furthermore, Miller has traveled across the country to large cities where retail furniture companies sell the Natchez collection, giving lectures and distributing materials about Natchez.

Other donations important to Foundation

&8220;Even if the licensing program stopped completely and we got no donations or gifts, we&8217;d still have money to operate forever because of the endowment fund,&8221; Miller said. However, donating to the Foundation is attractive to donors precisely because of its stability. &8220;It gives people the assurance that their money will really do something.&8221;

Two major gifts have provided other opportunities for the Foundation – the Masterson fund and the Whatley fund, which are set up with distinct purposes and named after the donors.

&8220;The Masterson fund generates income for us to give away for projects, and the Whatley fund provides money for our own programs but only for bricks and mortar projects,&8221; Miller said.

With income from the three funds – the licensing program and the Masterson and Whatley funds – the Foundation can do its work, he said.